Recently the police department has noticed a excessive number of vehicles on the road with illegally tinted windows, and with illegally colored lights mounted on the front and sides. Both of these violations subject the vehicle operator to a moving vehicle traffic citation, with a $40-50 fine assessed.

In order to prevent yourself from getting a ticket for either of these violations, you should be aware of the Maryland Laws pertaining to them. The laws are listed below, however in addition to reading them,
here are a few pointers that you should know!

1) TINTED WINDOWS -The 35% Window Tint Law in Maryland means that the TOTAL amount of light being transmitted through the glass of a motor vehicle cannot be less than 35%. In other words, it doesn't make any difference what percentage the actual window tinting film is rated at, you still cannot exceed 35% total Light Transmittance Value, or LTV for short.

The problem here is that many people purchase a window tint film that is rated at 35% and think it's automatically okay to put it on their car windows. A 35% window film will guarantee you that your vehicle will be illegal, and here's why:

ALL vehicles come from the factory with a certain percentage of tinting incorporated into the glass. In most cases it blocks out approximately 20% of the available light, which means that 80% is still passing through. That is an LTV of 80%, and there's no problem there.

An after market window tint film rated at 35% means that the film allows 35% of the available light to pass through, and blocks out 65%. (This is known as 35% LTV Film) And again, there's no problem with that.

Here's where the trouble begins. When you place a 35% window tint film over a vehicle window that is already blocking out 20% of the available light, you have now reduced the LTV to 28%, which is ILLEGAL! Why is it now 28%? Because you started with a piece of glass that was already blocking out 20% of the available light, and you are now placing a 35% tinting material on a piece of glass that only had 80% available light to start with. (.35 x 80 = 28%) That means you are now blocking out 72% of the available light, leaving only 28% to pass through.

You now have tinted windows with a 28% Light Transmittance Value,
and remember that the State of Maryland requires an LTV of at least 35%. (Windows that are tinted darker than 35% are very obvious to police officers.)

We want you understand the law completely because there are many Window Tint Shops out there who are telling their customers that a 35% window tint film placed on their vehicle glass is legal, which it isn't. (And you just saw why.) Additionally, many shops will just tint your windows without even telling you what is, and what is not legal in Maryland.

Be forwarned that if you get stopped with illegally tinted windows, it's YOU that gets the $55.00 ticket, not the shop that installed it. Plus you'll have the added cost of having it removed from your vehicle, which is probably as much as it was to have it put it on!

 

STATE BY STATE AUTO TINT LAWS

http://www.doityourselftint.com/tintlaws.html

 

In MD, the tint inspection is a lot more different than VA. In VA, you can pass VA Inspection by going through a small business auto shop or anywhere that has a VA State Inspector. In MD, you have to get a sticker from a MD State Police Officer at the MVA that certifies that your windows are 35%. This sticker is then placed on the front driver side window.

 

Inspections by State Troopers

 

Wow...finally something that MD is more strict about then VA with cars thats pretty dang strict